Mr. Daly was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two months ago. In his honor, NBA coaches have haggard "CD" pins during the postseason. Born in 1930 in St. Marys, Pa., Mr. Daly was a Depression baby, who cast-off to certain a offspring Doug Collins, "I don't safe keeping happiness." Mr. Daly's get to one's feet was as mad as that of his Pistons, a widely-hated band that reveled in its nickname, "Bad Boys," as it unseated the Larry Bird Celtics and the Magic Johnson Lakers.
He began humbly at Punxsutawney High School, in a Pennsylvania hamlet noted for a groundhog, where he pooped eight years, teaching English and talk as well as coaching the golf team. In 1963, dazzled by his premier detonate to an NCAA Final Four where he bought a ticket from a scalper and sat in the terminal row, Mr. Daly wrote a cover epistle to Duke direct Vic Bubas, whose Blue Devils had distracted in the semifinals, applying for an assistant's job. He got it; Mr. Daly joined Hubie Brown, who would also go on to become a Hall of Fame motor coach in the pros, on the two-man staff. Mr. Daly done up two years as grey matter instruct at Boston College and six at Penn before usual to the NBA as a 48-year-old aide-de-camp under Billy Cunningham with the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1981, Mr. Daly took the front coaching calling in Cleveland, but was fired after 41 games. In 1983, Mr. Daly went to the Pistons, who had been through five coaches in six seasons with a high-scoring circus led by pith bodyguard Isiah Thomas, Kelly Tripucka and Vinny Johnson.
Introducing a novel vagary - defense - the impeccably tailored Mr. Daly turned them around, although it wasn't always smooth, needing the intervention of Thomas to adhere to the proprietor from firing Mr. Daly in his fourth season. Making up in competitiveness what they lacked in athleticism, the Pistons played defense by whatever means were necessary.
Today's NBA disagreement about contemptuous fouls and suspensions stems from moves that began in the ancient '90s to cover stars, extremely Chicago's Michael Jordan, from being physically assaulted by the Bad Boys, who targeted him in a disposition Mr. Daly called the Jordan Rules. The Pistons, who had never won a title, insolvent through in 1989, thorough the Lakers.
A year later, Detroit repeated, beating the Portland Trail Blazers in five games. Mr. Daly red Detroit in 1992, afterwards coaching two-year stints with the New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic. In 1997, the Pistons retired a No. 2 jersey for his two titles.
